Catch Me by Lorelie Brown Page A

his back, above his waistband. He’d left his gun belt on, even at such a task; she could wind her hands through it while she grazed her teeth—
    “Keep looking at him like that and I’ll be calling you little sister soon enough.”
    She jumped and almost dropped her apple. She bobbled it from hand to hand to catch it. “Wha—huh? What?” She passed the back of her hand over her temple as she sat up. A matching sheen of sweat had appeared there.
    Andrew dropped to the foot of her blanket. “I said I’d be calling you little sister soon if you keep looking at him like you want to wrap him up and tuck him in your pocket.”
    She became as rigid as an oak tree. “I want no such thing.”
    She was thinking of creating an opportunity, that was all. A moment out of reality where she could taste all that warm skin and gather to herself a memory for the long years in prison. Not keeping him forever.
    A particular sharpness in the way Dean watched her said he wouldn’t be adverse. That perhaps the wakening hunger in her could find a match within him.
    “No? My mistake.” His grin said otherwise.
    “Have you forgotten Dean is the very man who’s dragging me to prison?” She took a snapping bite of the white-fleshed apple and chomped as she stared at the dark green canopy of the treetops. “And he’s essentially condemning my father to death. It’ll kill him to see me go to jail.”
    “From what I’ve heard of Arthur Bullock, I don’t believe that.”
    She slanted a look at him. He didn’t wear his customary insouciant expression. His jaw had gone tight and his flattened mouth reminded her of Dean’s. “What are you talking about? My father loves me.”
    He shook his head abruptly, sending his brown hair scattering over his forehead, then looked at her. He whipped out another smile. “No, I’ve no doubt of that.”
    An uneasy skitter worked over her skin. There was something about his attitude she didn’t like. “Father is a good man. Even after those nasty men killed Robert, he kept the good of the town his top priority. He’s honorable.”
    “I never said different.”
    Dean leaned the axe against a tree trunk and dropped to his knees beside Maggie. “What’s that?”
    He had yet to put his shirt on. All that lovely, luscious skin just inches away. Her fingertips tingled and trembled with nervousness at the same time. Though her virginity would do her no good behind bars, giving it up was still a huge step. If she didn’t have the guts to follow through it could be quite embarrassing.
    Andrew leaned back on an elbow. “Maggie and I were just discussing what a great man her father is.”
    They shared a silent communication she had no hope of interpreting. She’d once had that with Robert, the shared memories and thoughts only close siblings shared. She dropped her gaze, unwilling to be reminded of what she missed so badly. Spinning the apple around, she snapped off the tiny stem.
    Dean tweaked the apple out of her hand and took a bite, his teeth sinking into the crimson skin. A drop of juice dewed on his bottom lip before he licked it off. “I’m done with the wood. We should pack up and get going again.”
    “Oh, no sir.” She stood and went to Sandie to grab a change of clothes. “There’s a bathing pool around the bend. I am getting cleaned up before we go.”
    This chance might never come again. While she thought she might be able to trade on her very femininity to get a reduced sentence, she was still staring down the barrel of years in prison. She’d never feel a man’s touch.
    Never feel this man’s touch.
    He followed her over and set a hand over hers. The leather bag beneath her palm was sun-warmed but nothing compared to the heat of his hand. Her breathing came up short and shallow and she was filled with his scent, all tangy and male.
    “Maggie, I know I’ve been giving you more leeway, but I just can’t cotton to you going off by yourself.”
    She pointed to the protective